Friday, October 23, 2009

Toenails 5 - Underpants Opus, and Big Thanks

Wow. I'm overwhelmed by all the great response since I've returned. Thank you heartily!I feel I owe you a special extra excitement in today's post.Originally I was just gonna have Kaspar stretch the underwear bands and destroy them simply, but everyone seemed to have greater expectations. I hope I don't let you down.So I went back and added this little action just for you.Kaspar's instincts kick in. He seems to know that the red line is the support system of the man's most honored secret garment.The clench of a Ruthenian bear has the pressure of 10,000 lbs per inch. Don't get your BVDs caught in it!Now for some stretching. This performs 2 functions. It's good exercise for the bear and keeps his teeth healthy. Special amino acids in the elastic prevents gum disease.The waistband is duly destroyed and no one could be prouder than our ferocious forest friend.Aaaaah...but it's all in a day's work for Kaspar. These are the kind of simple joys that make life worth living.Hey!!!There is a pungent residue left on the lips that tasted man's hider of nasties.To be continued...

You know, this is an interesting medium. Unlike TV cartoons that take months to make and I don't see the reaction, here I get instant reaction from you, and it makes me think that this is sort of like when a stand up comic reacts to the crowd and alters his material on the spot. Maybe I should just do online comics like this and see if it turns into anything.

Of course I gotta find a way for it to pay the bills, and here I want to give an especial thank you to all who have donated in the last few months. I know these are tough times, so it's extra appreciated.

I wonder if the rangers will be stupid enough not to notice that their undies are contaminated and just wear em anyway. I think you should take truer pride in creating the stupider characters than the smarter ones which you are one of the few artists that do.

My idea is that the stupider characters put more emphasis on personality and their messed up ideology that goes along with it.

Have you thought about doing really quick animations with a simple program like Flipbook, or maybe even just good old yellow Post-It pads? Actually now I think about it, I'd love to see what you'd do with Post-Its. I'd donate to see that :D

Wonderful anticipation pose there when he prepares to make THE BIG CHEW!:D I'm still doing alot of stuides John, especially after I got some of the Looney tunes golden collections, and I can just pause them, and draw!...

I appreciate the things you do for us man!

I sit here in little Denmark "land of the burning flags" And hoping one day I will be able to come to the states and make cartoons with all you brilliant artists! Cheers! - Thomas

hihow are you?the undies that Kaspar is demolishing are called kangaroo pouch undies down here in australia.by the way he is a great charactorin the makinghe will be an asset to you ,he is evolving perfectly, will kaspar ever speak or will he make only bear noises?the Kaspar comic strip idea is a great platform to start his life off to let him grow

john, there's a great book called "how to make webcomics" out by 4 comic artists who are making their living (and supporting families) with their webcomics.

skip all the stuff in the book about drawing, but there's a lot of good ways they go over monetizing web comics and building a solid audience, etc. a quick read if you're curious about how some people are making their living solely off web comics

Hopefully if you begin a webcomic of sorts you would be able to return respect to the gaming-dudes-on-a-couch-ridden medium. The added color was a nice touch, this was great. Kaspar's expressions are priceless.

The more Kaspar i see the more i'm falling under his hairy charm! This one is extra special - you draw so nice & i love your writing style too. These drawings are bursting with so much energy & flavour, that i think the potential inbetweens are frankly redundant.

Glad you got the donation - it's easy & fun & i can write it off my tax :)

Thanks for keeping your blog public, John!I was so relieved to see you were back online.Didn't realize how much I visited this site and used all your great advice as a valuable resource. I don't do the lessons as much as I should but your site is always a great place for inspiration.

Great stuff sir. I can't wait for it to continue. I'd love to see you do online comics!

BTW, I know you've mentioned it in passing on the blog, but wouldnt a DTV cartoon series be ideal? It seems like a fresh market just waiting for some new Spumco cartoons! (have you seen any of the DC dtvs Bruce Timm is involved with? It seems dtvs have a massive amount of potential for the future of animation).

haha its good. When I saw the other parts to this I thought maybe Kaspar would get too ambitious and notice a final golden sock on the rangers only to find himself in a fierce battle with the larger of the two. however that may be a bit cliche and im enjoying this a lot more. haha

commenting on you comment suggesting online comics. I think it'd be awesome and truly a challenge to generate succesfully. Here's a link to a video of Scott McCloud talking about the future of comics- u might find it intersting enough to apply the method urself Maestro!

Yay! I'm so glad you opened you blog again because I really want to ask your opinion on stuff. I sent a link to my blog but I don't know if you looked at it :/Mostly I'm having trouble with drawing a whole figure. (if that makes sense) For some reason, I can only get draw down to the torso and I have to force myself to draw legs.And I also have no idea how to do foreshortening.

Thanks so much John for opening up the blog again! Those were a couple of dark days! To many of us, you are THE VOICE for cartooning and animation. And we really appreciate it!

I too recommend the 'How to Make Webcomics' book. One of these guys has been making a living doing this for at least 10 years. They have great ideas on how to market and monetize a webcomic. I'm sure you will kill on such a project! You have a crap load of consumers that visit this blog daily and nearly hung themselves apparently when you went away. I for one would check out your webcomic daily...

John, you shouldn't downplay your own drawing skills as much as you have been lately. We all know you can handle a pencil. I think I speak for everyone when I say we'd love to see you go all out on a Kaspar drawing, and give it all the bells and whistles.

These doodles are funny, though, don't get me wrong. I'd just like to see pure 100% John K product from start to finish, inked and... well, inked. I won't push too hard.

Hey John. No need to post this one, just an idea I got. If you look further into this webcomic idea and it works out this might interest you.

There are webcomic portals/communities out there that allow webcomic creators a place to post if they don't have their own site or are too new to justify having a website for their comic (check out Drunkduck.com or Keenspot.com). I think it would be great for you to start one where you only allow personally approved cartoonists to post their webcomics to your site. That way there will finally be a quality site to view good comics with a strong name behind it.

I don't know if my stuff would meet your standards but I would definitely keep submitting until you let me in. Just a thought. I would love to know what you think.

Welcome back! I like Kaspar. I'd read his comic, buy his toys, watch him on TV. It'd be great if I could read it to my kid too. He loves Calvin and Hobbes and I love hearing a little kid crack up with laughter.

Also, I hope I'm not being an "Internet loudmouth" but why aren't you on Facebook? You'll have access to millions more people that are notified each time you post and funny stuff spreads really fast. This blog is great but is somewhat insulated to mostly cartoon fans.

John, I'm definitely gonna donate more! You definitely deserve it! After all the cool stuff you leave us here how can I not!? Besides we need to save REAL CARTOONS and you're the only one who's kicking tremendous arse in that department!!

Ha ha, Scott McCloud. He's a motivational speaker who happens to focus on comics. He's all about narrative and not at all about the visual and entertainment value of cartoons. I don't fall for his poor reasoning.

Andy J. Latham: "Have you thought about doing really quick animations with a simple program like Flipbook, or maybe even just good old yellow Post-It pads? Actually now I think about it, I'd love to see what you'd do with Post-Its. I'd donate to see that :D"

I'd also be really interested in seeing that, especially after John's post on Ernie Pintoff: http://willfinn.blogspot.com/2009/03/finding-my-inner-pintoff.html

It's kinda off-topic, but I've just found today that The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse will be released on DVD next year! It's great! I really was blow out by the series when they first came out.Here's the link to pre-order

Hi John, just want to add my name to the list of readers who really appreciate the blog being public again.

I generally just lurk and don't usually comment, but your blog is an amazing resource and if you DO end up deciding to go invitation-only again, I would like to officially request on. Thanks for everything!

Thanks for the funnies! Kaspar needs to have many more undie escapades...the comic goldmine of briefs runs deep.

I'm not an artist, just a long time fan of your work since the Mighty Mouse days, even though I didn't know that was some of your work. Your blog has taught me much about the art & craft of cartooning and I have a much better eye & vocab for things animated now. I can better articulate why so much of it sucks now!